LibQUAL : an overview Cathie Jilovsky

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LibQUAL an overview Cathie Jilovsky

C A V A L
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What is LibQUAL ?

• LibQUAL is a suite of services that libraries
  use to solicit, track, understand act upon
  users opinions of service quality.
• The centerpiece is a rigorously tested Web-based
  survey - 22 items a box.
• Made available to the international library
  community by the Association of Research
  Libraries (ARL).

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LibQUAL history

• Evolved from SERVQUAL
• ARL TAMU Libraries
• 2000 - 2003 LibQUAL project - U.S. Department
  of Educations Fund for the Improvement of
  Postsecondary Education (FIPSE).
• Enables international benchmarking
• Web-based management centre
• More than 550 institutions have participated in
  LibQUAL to date

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Mixed Method Design

• Data were gathered for building a theory of
  service quality through unstructured interviews
  of users of research libraries in north America.
• The theory was analyzed, tested, and refined from
  a grounded theory perspective through an
  iterative and emergent process that employed both
  qualitative and quantitative methods.
• Interview data were derived and subjected to
  traditional quantitative analysis for reliability
  and validity to ascertain whether it both
  accurately assessed user sentiment of service
  quality, and whether it succeeded in evaluating
  what it purportedly was designed to do.
• Initial interviews served to inform subsequent
  interviews, which in turn determined the texture
  of survey questions

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LibQUAL Goals

• Improve mechanisms and protocols for evaluating
  libraries
• Develop web-based tools for assessing library
  service quality
• Identify best practices in providing library
  service
• Support libraries seeking to understand changes
  in user behavior
• Assist libraries seeking to re-position library
  services in the new environment

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The LibQUAL Premise

• PERCEPTIONS SERVICE

• .only customers judge quality
• all other judgments are essentially
• irrelevant

Note. Zeithaml, Parasuraman, Berry. (1999).
Delivering quality service. NY The Free Press.
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Survey Instrument
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LibQUAL 2004 SummaryColleges or
UniversitiesAmerican English
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LibQUAL Key to bar charts
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University of Maryland Undergraduate students
2004
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University of MarylandAcademic Staff 2004
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.. The box

• Why the Box is so Important
• About 40 of participants provide open-ended
  comments, and these are linked to demographics
  and quantitative data.
• Users elaborate the details of their concerns.
• Users feel the need to be constructive in their
  criticisms, and offer specific suggestions for
  action.

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How Do You DoLibQUAL ?

• Online registration takes place year-round
• Two survey periods
• Session I (Jan-May)
• Session II (July-Dec)
• Online survey management center
• Single institutions or Consortia

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Survey Mangement Centre

• Survey Preferences
• Survey Customization
• Preview and Launch Survey
• Representativeness
• Monitor the Survey
• Results

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LibQUAL Outcomes

• Securing information that contributes
  meaningfully to planning and improvement efforts
  at a local level
• Providing analytical frameworks that
  institutional staff can apply without extensive
  training or assistance
• Helping decision-makers understand success of
  investments
• Finding useful inter-institutional comparisons

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LibQUAL InteractiveInstitution Statistics
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LibQUAL Growth

• Types of Institutions
• Academic Health Sciences
• Academic Law
• Academic Military
• College or University
• Community College
• European Business
• Hospital
• Public
• State
• Countries
• U.S., U.K., Canada, the Netherlands, South
  Africa, Sweden, France, Australia, New Zealand,
  Malaysia

• Languages
• American English
• British English
• French
• Dutch
• Swedish
• Consortia
• Each may create 5 local questions to add to their
  survey

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LibQUAL Benefits (1)

• methodology focuses on success from the users
  point of view (outcomes)
• web-based survey handles large numbers willing
  respondents survey is quick not expensive
• requires limited local survey expertise
  resources
• Analysis available at local inter-institutional
  levels

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LibQUAL Benefits (2)

• Many opportunities for using demographics to
  discern user behaviors
• Provides a benchmark for measuring continuous
  improvement
• A powerful tool to present the Libraries case to
  the organisations administration
• Lets staff and students know we listen and
  respond to their needs.

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LibQUAL Resources

• LibQUAL Website http//www.libqual.org
• Publications http//www.libqual.org/publication
  s
• Events and Training http//www.libqual.org/events
  
• Gap Theory/Radargraph Introduction
  http//www.libqual.org/Information/Tools/libqualp
  resentation.cfm
• LibQUAL Bibliography http//www.coe.tamu.edu/
  bthompson/servqbibl
• LibQUAL Procedures Manual http//www.libqual.or
  g/Information/Manual/index.cfm

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CAVAL ARL Partnership

• Local support local knowledge and Help Desk
  service in Australian time-zones
• Facilitation of development ofAustralian English
  survey
• Training
• Using the survey results From data to action
• Online Statistics

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CAVAL Collaborative Solutions

• Cataloguing Processing Indexing (gt70 languages)
• Registered Training Organisation
• Information Systems Management Support
• Preservation Storage solutions
• Advice consultancy

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CAVAL Collaborative Solutions

• Web - http//www.caval.edu.au
• Cathie Jilovsky cathiej_at_caval.edu.au
• Richard Sayers richards_at_caval.edu.au

ARL - http//www.arl.org LibQUAL -
http//www.libqual.org
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